Council Meetings Should Be Broadcast
*Porirua City Councillor Robert Shaw say his Council needs to reach out to the community more.
Council needs to win the confidence of the public it serves.
The public are dissatisfied with the way Council operates.
One step to address this is to open the Council up to scrutiny.
This means the advice of the officers must be more considered by the public, along with the performance of the mayor and
councillors.
There is a raft of things we need to consider now that we have established a new committee structure and reduced the
number of Council meetings.
We should use the new technology that is available to better inform people.
The easiest way is to show people what is going on by broadcasting meetings.
This can be done easily on the internet, and we should also explore access to the new regional television channel and
local radio.
At the moment all the information is available in mountains of paper - it is not very easy to access nor is it very
inspiring.
The public has a right to hear the advice given by officers and to see the councillors in action as they work towards
decisions.
In conjunction with broadcasting, the Council needs to re-think the opportunities it provides for people to have a say
before decisions are made.
Had the petition about a Vodafone tower in Whitby arrived before the decision was made, better outcomes might have been
achieved.
Many people were dissatisfied with the budget hearings and felt they did not manage to get their points across.
Others made submissions on things that were already decided, like the placement of the recreation centre.
All this indicates the need for Council to re-think its interaction with people.
The Council is supposed to be the servant of the people, and to generate an enlightened consensus.
ENDS